Desired Profile of PhD students

Candidates with the following attributes are invited to apply for admission into the PhD programme in accounting:

Intellectual Curiosity

Strong GMAT score

Proficiency in spoken and written English

Excellent presentation skills

Excellent grades in undergraduate studies

Experience in computer programming would be a plus

Department of Analytics & Operations

We consider students with very strong academic records and are highly ranked within their cohorts.

Their bachelor's/master's degrees should be from technical fields such as mathematics, statistics, and engineering.

Good GRE, GMAT are useful indicators but not mandatory. Shortlisted candidates should have a reasonably good command of the English language as indicated by their TOFEL scores and ad-hoc interview performance.

Department of Finance

Applicants to the PhD programme in Finance need a solid grounding in quantitative methods in mathematics and/or statistics. Background in finance and/or economics would be additionally useful, but not necessary. Both undergraduate and Masters students will be considered. Research experience (either arising from a thesis at the undergraduate or master's degree programme) will be a strong plus. Applicants who have successfully obtained admission in the past have had undergraduate or graduate degrees in diverse disciplines such as engineering, mathematics, statistics, financial engineering, real estate as well as business.

GRE/GMAT and TOEFL (when necessary) scores are secondary indicators of ability, and there is no minimum requirement for these scores.

Evaluation of the research statement written by the applicant will form an important part of the admission process. Applicants are expected to have spent significant effort in preparing this statement, both in terms of content as well as writing. A candidate's proficiency and depth of understanding of his or her research statement will be tested during a phone interview (for shortlisted candidates).

Department of Management & Organisation

Management & Organisation department looks for students that meets the following criteria

With a master or bachelor degree from top schools (e.g., NUS, NTU, SMU, top 10 business schools in China, IIT from India and so on) Strong GMAT or GRE scores (e.g., top 10 percent)

Strong GMAT or GRE scores (e.g., top 10 percent)

Proficiency in spoken and written English (minimum TOEFL: 660)

A solid statement of research that shows potential for serious research

Strong recommendation letters

Good command of written and spoken English

International publications are a plus

Department of Marketing

In general, given the importance of good presentation skills to succeed in the job market, it would be good if the candidate has good oral communication skills (in English). Applicants need to have 90+ percentile on GMAT/GRE (95+ percentile in Quant/Analytical Reason and 85+ percentile in Verbal) and 90+ Percentile in TSE (Test of spoken English).

Our programme provides training in two subfields of marketing – marketing modeling and consumer behavior. An "ideal" Marketing Modeling candidate must have a strong math background. If the candidate is aspiring to be an analytical modeler, it would be good if she/he also has graduate-level economics background. If the candidate is aspiring to specialize in empirical/econometric modeling, it would be good if she/he has a solid statistics background. If the candidate is aiming to be econometric modeler, it would be good if she/he has prior exposure to programming in C/MATLAB. More specific criteria are listed below: Undergraduate Background: She/he has an undergraduate bachelor's degree in Engineering/Math/Statistics from a very reputable university with good exposure to calculus, differential equation and linear algebra.

Graduate-level Background: At the graduate-level, the following background would be good.

Profile I Graduate studies in Statistics/Math/Applied Math/Engineering from a very good university/institute. If the candidate lacks prior exposure to Economics and Marketing, she/he will be advised to do background readings in undergraduate Micro-Economics and Marketing before she/he arrives at NUS.

Profile II Graduate studies in Economics from a very good university/institute. Concern in this case will be lack of prior exposure to Marketing. The candidate will be advised to do background readings in Marketing before they arrive at NUS.

Profile III MBA from a very good university/institute. Concern in this case will be lack of prior exposure to Economics. The candidate will be advised to do background readings in undergraduate Micro-Economics before they arrive at NUS.

An “ideal” Marketing Consumer Behavior candidate must have a strong grounding in cognitive and social psychology. Candidates with a Communications degree are also encouraged to consider this research track. Undergraduate and graduate level exposure to information processing, experimental design, behavioral decision-making modules would be good. Statistical knowledge is essential with basic command in the popular social science statistical packages like SAS, SPSS, or STATA.

Department of Strategy & Policy

Intellectual curiosity

Both Undergraduate and Masters students from top schools will be considered. (e.g., NUS, NTU, SMU, top universities in China, India, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Iran and so on)

Applicants to the PhD programme in Strategy & Policy need a solid grounding in statistics. Background in Economics/Engineering/Computer Science would be useful, but not necessary. Research experience (either arising from a thesis at the Undergraduate or Master's degree programme) will be a strong plus.

Strong GMAT or GRE scores (e.g., top 10 percent)

Proficiency in spoken and written English (minimum TOEFL: 660)

A solid statement of research that shows potential for serious research